The personality of a pancreas

Loyal ShootUp fans already know that my insulin pump has a mind of its own that it vents publicly on occasion. The next big question in life is whether my pancreas is equally opinionated.

I’ve always imagined my pancreas to be a pretty quiet, reserved type of organ. But have I misjudged it? My pancreas could have any number of attitudes towards life:

Laid back – I’ve taken a bit of a back seat over the last 27 years, she seems to cope well enough doing my job for me so I just keep my head down.

Guilty – I am the weakest link. I’m the cause of so many problems. The kidneys won’t even talk to me because they say I’m not pulling my weight to keep them healthy.

Smug – I am the centre of all attention, my lack of function puts me right at the top of the list of body organs she thinks about or talks about. My ego is barely contained within my 6 inch body.

Arrogant – She calls herself pancreatically challenged, but I’ll have you know I still do many important jobs. So the islets of Langerhans don’t work as they should, but lets get this in perspective, I still do the other bit of my job to high standard. No one can beat me when it comes to secreting enzymes into the digestive system to help break down carbohydrates and protein.

Or perhaps it’s just a mute body organ without the capability of rational thought? That would be a disappointment.

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About Alison

Diagnosed with Type One in 1983 at the age of four, Alison's been at this for a while now. She uses Humalog in a combined insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring system and any blood glucose meter as long as it takes five seconds or less.

Not so much what my pancreas is like but…. when I first got diagnosed I told people that my step dad destroyed my pancreas! No-one could give me a good explanation of why it stopped working so I figured my step dad was as good a culprit as any!!

Btw – I love my step dad, its just quite amusing to watch his face when I tell people he destroyed my pancreas!